Spying on people can be creepy

By Frank D'Adamo
Collegian Staff
April 18, 2007

“We all go a little mad sometimes.” - Anthony Perkins, Psycho (1960).

Our madness can be expressed in different ways. For Disturbia’s Kale, it is the fact that he has seen a murder and can’t convince anyone about it because he’s a juvenile delinquent under house arrest. Disturbia is a movie with a good plot, some crazy twists and turns that left me confused, but overall solid acting.

Disturbia is directed by D.J. Caruso and stars Shia LeBeouf, Sarah Roemer and David Morse. It centers around Kale (LeBeouf) and how he is spending time with his father. His life seems spiffy, at first, with the usual father-son bonding. Tragedy strikes when a car wreck kills his father, and Kale is partially to blame.

A year passes and Kale still feels guilty and upset. He causes an incident at school and is sentenced to three months of house arrest. Kale is forced to wear a device where he cannot walk more than 100 feet from his home. The woman who gave him the detector said that he needs constructive activities or else he may bring himself to insanity.

Kale is then introduced to the girl next door, Ashley (Roemer). Kale, after a spree of awkward stalking, convinces Ashley that their neighbor Mr. Turner (Morse) is a killer after witnessing a supposed murder. Nothing can be found, no one believes him and it is likely that it goes back to what the woman said about being under house arrest — one can go insane trying to prove something.

Disturbia, with its ups and downs, to me earns a solid “B” grade. The upside of the film is LeBeouf’s work, which is pleasantly surprising. He has proven he can play a different role, and he was able to make me believe that he might be crazy at some points. Without giving too much away, there was a scene where Kale thought he saw a murder, but was mistaken.

The second positive aspect was the suspense; I was on the edge of my seat at some parts. Kale tries to prove that he isn’t crazy and Turner is a killer. Kale, Ashley and their friend Ronnie try to search Turner’s personal belongings while he is out. The suspense of that whole scene was excellent and was one of the high points of the movie.

Unfortunately, there was a downside. Other than the fact that Morse looks disturbingly like Anthony Hopkins is beside the point of my biggest problem with the movie.

Kale was put under house arrest. He could have done jail time, and needed to find something more constructive to do. What were his constructive activities? The answer is… stalking. I know it’s a well-written and well-acted movie; but honestly, using binoculars and watching what every neighbor does during the day isn’t a lighthearted hobby, it’s a felony, and it had me at a loss. The good news is, you get past it. It may bother audiences at first, like it did me, but it can be ignored.

If you can get past the stalking aspect, I highly recommend this movie. There are a couple of other parts that may leave you scratching your head, but overall it is a general satisfying film.

dadamof1@lasalle.edu